I lay flat on my stomach, a weed mat protecting me from the muddy earth. In front of me a snail makes it’s way back towards my greenery; a terrible model, it won’t stay still.
Carefully I snap photos, even as I wish that we had chickens that I could feed them to. They’re decimating my cabbages, tens of them slithering over the purple heads together, a tiny snail army. Their task – to eat and procreate, an eternal circle of life. Unfortunate that my garden is at the centre of it.
It’s a war I’m not winning, as slowly the holes in the cabbage leaves get bigger and the capsicums and cauliflowers are more hole than leaf.
***
My tomatoes are growing. Faster and faster, like a snowball picking up speed down a great hill. I can’t keep up and instead I’m left, trying to contain the chaos and prevent immediate injury.
Carefully I tie branches higher and support the green fruit with more baling twine. I hammer stakes into the ground and twirl the stems around them. I kneel in the middle of the tomato jungle, getting wet and muddy as I baby the plants along, preventing catastrophe.
I emerge from the plants, hair tousled and smelling like tomatoes. I look like I’ve been in a fight, with leaves in my hair and dirt on my face.
But the tomatoes are up off the ground, away from the pillaging slugs and I can breathe easy about the safety of my plants.
At least until tomorrow when the my daughter and the puppy go crashing through the garden.
Again.
This photo displays about 1/8th of the amount of tomatoes I've got growing.
Meanwhile it is snowing in my part of the world and the very unusual blizzard is preventing me from going to the chemist for more tummy medecine as my two have been very sick in their stomach and bowels ever since last Sunday…. As I read your blog I’m wishing for summertime but then I’ll be complaining about the heat probably ;D
You’ll be making tomato sauce for weeks when that lot ripens up!
Still haven’t managed to change my email address everywhere!
Ahh I love the idea of gardening, but I doubt I’d take care of veggies enough to be able to get a decent crop out of them! >_<
I'd rather have my garden with not much in it at the mo – kids and footballs equal no point in trying to do too much in it just yet! 😉
There is something sexy and viscerally satisfying about working directly with the earth, I think.
So nice to see beautiful tomatoes when everything is frozen over in my part of the world. Love your snail.
With a foot of snow here I’m very jealous of your garden. Well, except for the slugs. They are so pretty to look at but they eat everything.
Ooh I like others wish I could feel warm sun on my face. Veronica what are you doing crawling around like that!!! lol
I love the smell of tomato’s on the vine I don’t just mean love I mean adore. If there were a perfume made of it i would wear it and would be called tomato girl.
We have a tiny garden, despite the fact my husband the professional gardener has large estates for which he is responsible some with whole walled gardens dedicated to veg.
This year however I am determined to get veg growing anywhere I can and I mean that. So I will be the mad woman with veg in her front garden as well as anywhere I can squeeze in the back. Brought up in a large house with a very large garden sometimes I find it hard to come to terms living in my housing association house with my stupidly small garden especially as we are in the middle of the bloody countryside! I can see some terrorist gardening starting something which is becoming popular in London and other big cities. Oh the joy of seeing a few tomotoes pop up on the village green ha ha..
Loving your snail pictures even though I totally understand why you don’t. Please get chickens and then I could come and pretend to virtually garden veronica. We kept chickens as a child I love chickens. Not so much that I won’t eat one of my own though. I remember a previous post on chickens and can’t remember why you don’t have them at the moment.
Totally understand the need to come here to get away from all that p***za stuff. Note didn’t type ‘that’ word!
Can’t ask other half about slug stuff he is always asleep of an evening. Having slaved away the day to keep this old crip in the manner I have become accustomed ha ha I seem to remember my father marching round the garden in pj’s and a torch murdering the poor defenceless vegetable eating stealing chomping gits. it amazes me that they move so slowly yet can cause so much carnage and eat SO much. The only other thing I can recall is beer so that they get so drunk etc… our dog likes beer so we couldn’t do that and its illegal in this country to get one’s dog inebreiated! My grandmother did something awful with salt but the results were gruesome. I’m off truly – anyway its your fault Veronica you will keep posting!!
So many tomatoes! Tomato sandwiches, tomato soup, tomato pizza, tomato salad, tomato based pasta sauces…….oh yum! Get hungry while gardening? Pick a tomato and eat it.
I haven’t seen a single snail in my yard since the bluey moved in.
@achelois; to fit more veg in a small garden, try growing mini varieties and grow as much as you can on vertical trellises so each one doesn’t take up as much ground space.
This is like a movie copy trailer entitled, “The attack of the Slugs:”Tomato Edition”” Just joking, nice tomatoes you have their. For sure it will be yummy because its so fresh. Good luck with the Slugs! more power to your garden.
Comments on this entry are closed.